


Blow Your House Down

by stylesforstiles



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, side smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-10
Updated: 2013-04-19
Packaged: 2017-12-08 01:53:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/755621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stylesforstiles/pseuds/stylesforstiles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where Nick owns a bar and sleeps with Louis, who is a bartender there and thinks no one knows...but they probably do because Zayn is also a bartender, Liam is a cop that patrols the bar and Harry is...Harry</p><p>Niall is the resident DJ and thinks they are all insane as per usual</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Man I don't even know...and also because sometimes Tomlinshaw is a beautiful thing

Louis groaned and rolled over, immediately hitting something solid and warm. He cracked one eye open and started to do some inventory. He scanned the length of the bed, lifting his head to look at the room. He dropped back on the pillow, closing his eyes again. Fuck me he thought. This was definitely not Louis’ room. But it was one that he had definitely seen the inside of more times than he would like to admit. He kept promising himself that he wouldn’t end up back here, but he usually forgot this promise about once a month, give or take. It really wasn’t the best idea to shag your boss after all. But Nick made it hard to say no, especially when they got into the drinks after the bar had long been closed. One turned into two, two turned into three, and four turned into ‘let’s go and christen my new granite countertops’. So, that was Louis’ night in a nutshell.

And now that it was all coming back to him slowly but surely, he was beginning to understand the various pains in his body from being man handled all over Nick’s kitchen. He turned back over to look at Nick’s sleeping form, thinking it wasn’t fair for him to be awake all by himself. He reached out and started shaking his shoulders. “Nick…Niiiiick….Nicholas, time to get up!”

Nick started to shuffle his body away from Louis’ grasp, not bothering to turn around. “Shut the fuck up and go back to sleep,”

“I can’t, I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. Do I have to go to work later?” Louis whined out.

Nick still didn’t budge. “Yes.”

Louis stuck his tongue out at his back. “Slave driver.” He lay back against the pillows, staring up at the ceiling thinking that he should go home. But everything hurt, so this was a very hard task right now. A few moments later Nick was resting his chin on his chest, staring up at him with that smile that was usually reserved for charming customers.

“Louis, my love, you make me a lot of money with that beautiful face and your knack for crafting the most astounding mixed drinks. So, yes, you will be going to work.”

Louis rolled his eyes, ruffling up Nick’s hair, earning him his own eye roll. He pouted his lips. “You only want me for the money I make you,"

Nick’s smile turned into a smirk. “No pet, you’re great in bed too. So enthusiastic.”

“What a wonderful thing for me to put on a resume. Speaking of which,” Louis briefly hesitated before meeting Nick’s eyes again. “Don’t you think we should stop doing this? It’s kind of unprofessional."

Nick shrugged it off. “I own the bar, love. Who’s going to complain, Zayn? I hardly think he cares seeing as he’s in love with that incredibly boring police officer that’s always in there.”

“He has a _name,_ Nick, it’s Liam. You should know this being the owner of said bar, as he’s the neighborhood liquor controller after all. It’s not like he’s hanging out in there out of his own accord, it’s kind of his job,” Louis scolded.

Nick inched his body a little bit closer, placing a kiss on Louis' lips. “Good, glad someone knows his name then.” He leaned down for another kiss, lingering a little this time. “So, we should stop this then? You want to make this our one last hurrah?” Nick moved onto his neck now, and Louis was trying to focus on why he wasn’t supposed to be doing this. What were those reasons again?

He shook his head, arching up against Nick’s mouth. “Yeah, yeah…one last time…course,” and in Louis’ mind it sounded pretty convincing.

That was until he felt the smirk against his neck

*

Louis eventually made his way home later that morning and cursed himself when he opened the door to his townhouse. He looked at the stairs that led up to his bedroom, his eyes sad. Why did there have to be so many of them? He decided to forgo tackling them because it was just really too much energy to exert right now, and instead threw himself on his couch face first, still whinging in his mind about having to work later. He flipped over thinking that he was really being a twat, whining about having too many stairs in his house and having to be employed. It was a hard time being Louis Tomlinson apparently.

He glanced around his living room and kitchen, noting that his place was _slightly_ obnoxious. Louis made pretty good money at Nick’s bar, being that it was one of the biggest live music venues in London, however that would never afford him the likes of where he was living. It just so happened that Louis ended up having a rich uncle that had taken a shining to him as a child and when he had passed the year prior, he had left him a decent sum of money and the deed to his townhouse in Primrose Hill. A far cry from some of the frightening flats he and Zayn had shared over the years.

He could have had roommates in his townhouse, but Zayn and Niall both refused to live in the same area as ‘pretentious cunts and shite celebrities’. Although that didn’t stop them from crashing there more often than not, and convincing Louis to host birthday parties, after work parties, Halloween parties…pretty much _all_ the parties. He didn’t really mind though, what was the point of having this space and doing nothing fun with it?

Nick didn’t live that far from him either, so his monthly - he uses that term lightly, it was more like every couple of weeks now – walks of shame weren’t too bad. It was much better than having to hang your sorry hung over head on the tube while looking used and abused. Which is exactly how he felt right now. What he really needed was a coffee. He could make one, but what for when you could harass your mates to bring one to you? He pulled out his phone and dialed Zayn’s number. He answered on the first half ring.

“What.” He had that sound in his voice like he already knew Louis was going to ask him for something.

Louis smiled, putting on his best suck up voice. “Zaynie…would you be a doll and bring me a coffee?? I will love you forever and ever!”

And there went the sigh. “You’re a lazy arsehole, you know that? Why, big night with Nick leave you incapacitated?"

Louis frowned at the phone. “You’re not supposed to know about that,”

Zayn snorted. “Are you being serious? Everybody knows, Lou.”

Louis bit his lip. “Even Niall?”

“Even _Liam._ ”

Louis’ eyebrows shot up, voice raising. “And how the fuck does he know, Zayn?”

“Please. He’s a _detective_. He solves crimes for a living. He has a badge and everything. He showed me his gun once you know.” Louis could almost see the hearts in his eyes. Disgusting. And frankly sad after all these months.

“Okay, you’re getting a little off track there. Just bring the coffee, we can talk when you get here.”

Zayn perked up. “About Liam?”

For fuck’s sake. Louis wanted to reach through his phone and smack Zayn in the head. “Whatever, just hurry up,” he paused before adding a cheery, “Love you!”

He hung up before Zayn could keep going on about Liam, because then they would have been there until Louis’ next birthday. He needed Zayn to bang Liam like, yesterday, because his little crush was border lining on painful. Louis was pretty good at reading people, you had to be in order to serve them drinks on the regular, but Liam was tricky. It was that damn cop face of his. Even when Zayn was looking extra fit, which let’s face it, was always, Louis couldn’t detect a muscle flinch, an eye twitch, a lip lick – nothing. And it was fucking infuriating. In fact, he was almost ready to take one for the team and flirt with Liam himself...hmm...actually…

...

Louis said as much to Niall later that night as he sat in his DJ booth, swinging his legs back and forth. “So, what do you think?”

Niall just smiled and shook his head, scrolling through the songs on his lap top. “I think you’re going to piss off both Zayn and Nick tonight with that plan, so I’m all for it.”

Louis scoffed, cradling his arms against his chest. “This is for Zayn’s well-being. And Nick and I are just friends, you kids and your imaginations.”

Niall cocked an eyebrow at him. “Oh yeah? I don’t think we’ve gotten it on that I can remember, and _we’re_ just friends,”

“Very funny little Irish one,” Louis looked around to see if anyone was listening. “Just be quiet about it, okay? It’s nothing serious, but he’s still our boss, so I don’t want other loud mouths finding out. It’s bad enough that you know.”

Niall held up his hands. “Alright, alright, my lips are sealed. I’m going to pout if you start getting special treatment though,”

Louis gave him a pat on the back before jumping down. “I wouldn’t be too worried, Nick treats us all with the same annoyance and indifference,”

“That's true enough. Good luck with Officer Payne tonight!”

Louis gave him a little salute as he walked backwards towards the bar. He turned around and sat up against the back counter thinking he wasn’t going to need luck. He was going in with pure in your face tactics – extremely fitted grey jeans, rolled up just enough so that you could see his ankle tattoos. Same went for the low cut vest he hand on to show off his collarbone tattoo - he saw the way people eyed him up when he wore something low enough for it to peek out, so this was gratuitous skin porn at its finest – and topped it off with a jean jacket, because he figured he should probably cover _some_ of his body up.

He twisted around to check his hair out in the mirror, catching a glimpse of Zayn, and almost had to groan internally. Even though they had been friends for years, Louis was sometimes still caught off guard by Zayn’s offensively attractive face. He’s almost certain his profile could cut glass. Maybe they should test it out on a cube of ice. He got so lost in his ridiculous thoughts about Zayn’s face, that he didn't notice Nick staring at him until a few minutes later. He quickly hopped off the counter, coming around the bar to meet him.

He shoved his hands in the back pockets of his jeans, giving him a lop sided smile. “Everything alright? We good to open?”

Zayn had wandered over by now, waiting to hear the word from Nick. He gave them both a once over. “Are we selling more than drinks here tonight?”

Zayn’s face flashed with worry as he looked over the outfit that Louis had strategically picked out for him – lots of leather, black and hair product – and Louis just smiled sweetly at Nick. “Don’t worry, if we do we’ll make sure it goes straight into your pocket, boss.”

Nick looked at him pointedly. “Then make sure you charge at least $100 for the hour, love. I’ll be in my office if anyone needs me.”

He sauntered off and Zayn shot his back a dirty look before glancing at Louis. Louis went to cut him off immediately. “Don’t say it Zayn, just leave it alone.”

He started to walk away when Zayn pulled on his sleeve, putting his lips to his ear, “I just hope that he’s not that much of a dick when you’re alone, okay? You deserve better, Lou.”

Louis tugged his sleeve away, hissing back at him. “Okay, calm down, mum.” He strode over to his side of the bar, avoiding Zayn’s eyes, and mentally punched himself in the face for ever thinking it was a good idea to shag his boss.

*

The bar picked up a little while later as people started trickling in to catch the first band on that night. Louis didn’t care much for them, but it was a welcome distraction from Zayn and his pitying looks. Louis was in the middle of passing a pint over the counter, when he suddenly saw a face that he recognized. Finally. Officer Payne had entered the building. The crowd parted a little and Louis thought ‘oh fuck no’. He was wearing regular clothes. Here he had thought the uniform was bad, but oh no. This was so much worse. He was wearing dark denim skinny jeans, a plaid button down and leather high top trainers, and this was all about to lead to Zayn's demise. Now it was Louis’ turn to send worried glances Zayn’s way. He was probably going to go into shock and then have to be revived by Liam, only to then see him in his clothes again. And then he would probably die.

He called over another one of the bartenders to take his spot for a moment and made his way over to Liam, who was standing with another tall fellow, looking at bit lost. His eyes lit up when he saw Louis approaching. When Louis finally reached them he noticed Liam drop his eyes to his chest briefly, lingering just a little bit too long and he had to swallow his best smug bitch smile. Well, well, it is like that then. Excellent work, Louis.

“Office Payne, what brings you to our establishment on a non-work night?”

Louis swore he blushed a little. “Please, just call me Liam, I think we know each other well enough by now,” he turned to his friend. “And my friend Harry here wanted to check out the band, so I figured I would tag along,” Liam nodded between them. “Harry, this is Louis, he bar tends here.”

Louis looked at Harry now, drawing his eyes over the wild mess of hair. “Oh, are you a cop as well, Harry?”

He laughed, a loud one at that, shoving Liam a bit with his shoulder. “Nah, I just keep the department well stocked in good old fashioned stereotypical food.” Louis looked at him questioningly. Harry smiled, stuffing his hands in the pocket of his pea coat. “I work in a bakery.”

Louis was little caught off guard by this announcement. “Oh…that must be interesting.” Louis wanted smacked himself for coming off as a twat, but this was a news flash for him. He did not know that fit, curly haired, green eyed boys with - Louis darted his eyes back to his face, fuck all that is holy, dimples -  worked at bakeries. The only people who had ever served Louis were women that looked like his gran.

Harry gave him a crooked smile. “It’s really not. But I _can_ eat my weight in cupcakes,”

Liam nodded enthusiastically. “It’s true, we had a contest with the rest of my squad. Kind of unreal, actually.”

Louis gave them both a strange look. This was the guy Zayn was loopy over. “Right, well let’s get you two a drink,"

They nodded and followed behind him and he had almost forgotten about Zayn until he saw him frozen behind the bar, his face pulled into a look that very much resembled the painting ‘The Scream’. Louis picked up his speed, darting behind the bar to grab him by the shoulders. “Zayn, I’m going to need you to bring yourself to a calm place,”

He looked at Louis with his eyes wide. “He’s…the clothes…Lou…” He shot his eyes over to where Liam and Harry were standing by the bar chatting to each other.

“I know, Zayn, just breathe…Zayn look at me,” He trained his eyes back on Louis, licking his lips and nodding. “I wore this slutty shirt to see if Liam would check me out,” He instantly frowned and Louis pointed two fingers at his eyes. “Zayn, focus, this is a good thing. He did! So he’s all yours tiger. Go get him,” and with that Louis pushed him towards them, slapping his ass for good measure.

Louis followed closely behind, nodding at Harry. “What would you like?”

He stepped around Liam and leaned over the bar, shrugging his shoulders. “Surprise me.”

Louis nodded and went about making him a fairly evil gin concoction, strong but fucking delicious if Louis did say so himself, while he tried to listen in on Zayn’s conversation. He caught bits and pieces and they were both so fucking awkward that Louis wanted to turn around and hose them both down with the pop gun.

He passed Harry his drink, eyeing him up to decide if he should ask about Liam or not. He hesitated a beat before deciding to go for it. Louis motioned him closer with his hand, leaning in to speak near his ear. “This is going to sound kind of forward, but I just can’t take it anymore. If asked, do you think Liam would go out with Zayn?”

Harry didn’t show any trace of surprise about this, which entail surprised Louis. He wondered if perhaps Liam was also in the same way as Zayn - simply stupid for him. Harry shifted in closer and if Louis moved his head, his lips would be dangerously close to Harry’s. “I’ve got this.”

He straightened up, tapping Liam on the shoulder to get his attention. Liam turned to look his way, while Louis watched with interest. “Hey Li, don’t you have that work dinner this Friday? You know that one where you have to wear your dress uniform?”

Louis had to quickly look at Zayn just in case he passed out, but he seemed to be watching them with his breath held. Which also couldn’t end well he supposed. Liam looked confused, but answered regardless. “Yeah, why?”

Harry grinned like a sly little cat. “I was thinking that maybe you might like to ask Zayn here. You look like you get on quite well.”

Liam looked simply mortified. “ _Harry!_ ”

“What?” He said innocently. He looked at Zayn. “What do you think Zayn; would you like to go to a fancy dinner with my friend?"

“He would, yes!” Louis chimed in, smiling happily at Zayn, who looked like he was about to throw up and punch Louis at the same time.

Harry clapped his hands. “Brilliant. Well, I’m going to go and get a spot on the floor to watch the show. I’ll leave you guys to it to figure out the rest.” He flashed a smile and a stealthy thumbs up to Louis, before walking over to the stage.

Louis looked between the two of them, who were now giving each other shy looks and shy smiles and he had the sudden urge to spray them yet again. He left them to the monumental 'exchanging of numbers' to follow after Harry.

He poked his side to get his attention. “Hey, thanks a lot. I should have done that myself months ago,”

His lips curved into a smile, and Louis noted his own series of tattoos now that he had his jacket off. They looked...good. “S’not a problem. He’s mentioned him a few times, but I didn’t want to push it. Liam is a bit shy, he just needs to know that the feeling is mutual before he man’s up.”

Louis smiled, dropping his head to look at his feet for a moment, which was really to look at the long line of Harry’s legs in his painted on jeans. He looked up again and Harry was watching him with hooded eyes. He cleared his throat. “Well, it is. The feeling, that is. Zayn’s been making wistful eyes at him for months. I’m sure they’ll live happily ever after and all that shit.” Louis swallowed under Harry’s watchful eyes. “I best get back, enjoy the band.” Even though they’re horrible he said with his inside voice.

Harry tilted his head in question. “What about you?”

Louis furrowed his brow. “What about me?”

Harry stepped in closer, his breath dancing along Louis’ ear. “Do you want to come back to mine after and have a drink with me?”

This was certainly inconvenient. Yes, Louis very much did want to get a drink with this curly haired devil, but there was the whole sleeping with Nick last night and this morning thing to take into account. He decided to play this like a cheeky bastard instead. “You’re really not my type, Harry.

Harry leaned back, a smirk on his lips. “Oh, why is that?”

“You work in a bakery. You probably own an apron with cupcakes on it,”

He full out grinned now, his dimples showing, and Louis wanted to eat ice cream out of them. Weird place to go, but here they were. “I do in fact. But just because I own that doesn’t mean I’m not a freak between the cookie sheets, Louis.”

Louis stared at him in shock for a few moments. “That was one of the worst puns I’ve ever heard. I have to go back to work now.”

He turned on his heel and Harry grabbed his arm, walking them slowly towards the wall. Louis’ heart was pounding as Harry loomed over him, trailing his eyes over his lips, his green eyes boring into Louis’ “What are you doing Friday?”

Louis glanced at his lips as well, before flicking his eyes back at Harry’s. His mind said 'You' but his mouth said, "Coming over for a drink."

Harry leaned back down to his ear, his hand fishing around in Louis’ pocket for his phone. “Good.” He typed his number in, and sent himself a text so that he had Louis’ number as well. He slipped it back in his pocket and backed away, giving him a wink.

Louis stood there for a minute in disbelief, and to calm himself down, literally. What the fuck was that? He had just been accosted by a guy that made baked goods for a living and it was the hottest thing that had happened to him in a very long time. He floated back to the bar, where Zayn was all smiles talking to Niall.

Louis stood next to Zayn, who slung and arm around his shoulders, hugging him into his side. “I’m going to dinner with Liam,” he said breathlessly. If Zayn had been standing outside and saying this, he would have been able to hear the giddiness from there.

Louis hugged him in return, sending Niall a knowing smile. “I was there. I’m happy for you.”

Niall reached over to pinch his cheek. “Good on you, this has been a long time coming,”

Zayn smiled so hard Louis thought his face might shatter. “I know. I should probably buy Harry’s drinks for the rest of the night.”

Louis hummed in agreement, sliding back over to his side of the bar, deciding not to mention the Harry situation quite yet.

He didn’t get a chance to talk about it anyways, as the bar packed in more customers for the band, keeping them both on their toes. Louis didn’t even get a chance to see Harry or Liam again, he wasn’t sure when they had left, but it was probably better that way. He was still having after Harry shocks.

He was wiping down the bar at the end of the night when Nick came up behind him, his hand fitting on his waist. Louis turned around, giving him a questioning look. “What’s up?”

He ran his eyes over Louis’ face, working his way down to his chest and back up again. “If you’re going to dress like a slag at work, Louis, then you are very well going to have to act like one afterwards. I’ll meet you at your place in half an hour, love.”

And then he was gone, leaving Louis with his mouth hanging open.

Fuck.

He felt his jeans vibrate and he wiped his hands on the cloth before pulling it out. His mouth may have dropped open a little bit wider at the message.

\- wear something low cut, that tattoo really sexy xx Harry

Louis sighed, putting his phone away again, leaning his head on the bar.

Double fuck.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Subtle 1D song reference in this chapter that makes me laugh every time I hear it and some sexay Larry xo

Nick had some errands to run the next morning, so he didn’t end up staying over, and Louis had the whole next day off to pout about his new dilemma. Okay, so Harry wasn’t a problem per say, but this Nick thing was starting to be if it was going to interfere with him getting into Harry’s very, very tight pants. He felt like being dramatic today, so he pulled out his leopard print depression snuggie – he and Zayn had bought them in summer 09 after a series of bad breakups and spent a couple of weeks on their couch watching bad television and getting drunk. Niall didn’t want to feel left out, so he bought his own bright green one, complete with the Irish flag, naturally, and got them all addicted to Gossip Girl. Which he soon regretted after a much heated discussion about what characters they would be – Zayn and Louis told him he could only choose between Dan Humphrey or Eric van der Woodsen, leaving Niall to grab his DVD’s and storm out of the apartment.

Despite that minor set-back, they made it through the rest of the summer and had only ended up using the snuggies again on a few other occasions. Which was why Zayn and Niall were more than a little surprised when Louis opened the door wearing it.

Zayn immediately started shaking his head. “No. No way, Louis, it’s too nice of a day for me to allow you to hole up in your house, even if you are in the snuggie,”

Louis frowned. That wasn't how the snuggie was supposed to work. “Fine,” he snapped. “We can go to the park, but I’m not taking this off.”

Zayn rolled his eyes. “Suit yourself.”

A little while later they sat under the sun in the park, Louis sprawled out in the grass and not giving a fuck who was judging him for what he was wearing. He felt someone poke at him, so he rolled onto his side, meeting ‘the look’ from Zayn which meant spill your story already, and Niall cheerily munching on a sandwich.

“Did you only bring one for yourself?”

He paused mid chew, talking around the food in his mouth. “This is just a snack, I figured we’d be going to eat in a bit.”

Louis reached out and slapped him on the leg. “But it’s from Marks and Spencer, they have the best sandwiches! Give me a bite.”

Louis knew that Niall was having the struggle of his life right now, there was nothing he hated more than sharing his food, but he reluctantly handed it over. Louis closed his eyes savoring the bite, handing it back. “My god, there is nothing better than their chicken and stuffing,” He turned to Zayn, giving him the go ahead. “I know you want to ask Zayn, so let’s have it.”

Zayn looked at him exasperated. “You can’t blame me, okay, we all know what the snuggie means. What even happened, everything was fine when we left the bar last night?”

Louis picked at the grass. “Nick came over last night,”

He heard the spike in Zayn’s voice. “That’s two nights in a row, Louis. I thought you said it wasn’t like that,”

Louis glanced up at them and noted that Zayn looked mildly annoyed, while Niall looked reflective. He met Louis’ eyes, an embarrassed flush on his cheeks. “I, um…I don’t know how the mechanics of this work, but isn’t like, two nights in a row…you know…” he trailed off looking at Zayn for help, who burst out into laughter.

Louis narrowed his eyes, pointing a finger at them. “Oh, that's really nice to automatically assume that I’m the bottom!”

Niall panicked. “I told you I don't know how this works, I’m sorry!”

Louis let out a chuckle. “It’s alright, Niall. I appreciate your concern for my arse, but I’m fine,” He placed a hand on Zayn’s knee. “And trust me I know… _I know_. Besides, Nick is the least of my worries right now. It’s Harry.”

Zayn looked confused. “Wait, Liam's friend Harry? What does he have to do with it?”

“He asked me back to his place for a drink last night. But you know, the whole Nick thing the night before. I didn’t want to feel like a big fat whore. So, we’re going out Friday now,”

Niall perked up. “Oh yeah? He was a nice guy, we chatted for a bit last night. Pretty fit as well. You should go for it, Lou.”

Louis laughed. “He works in a bakery too, Niall. A man after your own heart. And I do want to go for it, but…”

Zayn cut him off. “No, don’t do that. You don’t owe Nick anything. Don’t delude yourself into thinking he’s not sleeping with other people. And I’m sure if Harry’s friends with Liam he’s wonderful, so stop overthinking this.”

Both Louis and Niall snorted at the Liam comment, but Zayn didn’t notice because that’s what usually happened when they veered off into Liam territory. Louis nodded his head, “Yeah, you’re right. I’m just being a pain."

Louis frowned when no one disagreed with him. Zayn spoke up again. “So, what are you guys going to do?”

Louis shrugged. "I told him I would come over for a drink,"

Zayn groaned. “ _Louis._ ”

Louis drew a hand to his chest, offended. “How dare you think that I am incapable of having drink without it turning into sex!"

Niall gave him a friendly push. “Yeah, this coming from the guy who fought valiantly to be the Chuck Bass of the group,”

“Never going to get over that, hey Eric?” That earned him a harder, less friendly push. “It’s just a drink, god.”

It wasn’t _just_ a drink, Louis thought to himself. He knew that. He just didn't need them to know that. In fact, he was hoping there wouldn’t be any drinks at all. He was scarred for life over the way Harry had loomed over him last night. Louis had never been one for fetishes, but the height difference between the two of them was kind of a thing. He could imagine being on his knees and staring up at all that torso, and nope, this was not the head space he needed to be in right now.

He cleared his throat, going for a topic change. “Did you want to come over and get ready at mine on Friday for the big date? I don’t trust you to pick out your outfit, Zayn.”

He blew out a relieved breath. “Yes, thank you. I can’t think about it because I get too nervous and then I want to text him stupid things, and I need to be controlled at this point.”

Louis crawled over to him and threw his arms around him. “You’ll be fine. You’re both kind of ridiculously head over heels for each other already. It’s actually kind of gross,”

Niall looked at them suspiciously. “Wait a minute…how the fuck did you both get a Friday night off?” Louis winked at him, and he bounced up to his feet pointing his finger accusingly. “I fucking knew it! Special treatment."

Louis stood up too, pulling Zayn along with him. “He likes payment in blow jobs, so if you think you’re up to it…”

Niall started backing away with his hands in front of him. “No, thank you. I’m good.”

Louis walked over and tickled his ribs, earning him some giggles. “Come on kiddo, I’ll buy you a pizza to make it up to you.”

By the time they got back to Louis’ and had their feet kicked up on the table, a movie playing in the background, he felt much better. But he still had that little inkling of worry in the back of his mind...

*

It turned out that Nick’s errands included an impromptu trip to Spain; he had messaged Louis on the way to the airport to let him know one of the floor managers would be taking care of the paperwork for the week, and that he would bring him back some maracas to shake around whilst naked. Louis didn’t quite know what to make of that part. So he filed it away in the back of his mind.

It was now Thursday night and the bar was pretty quiet; they didn’t have a live band booked that night, so Niall was doing a DJ set of various 80’s and 90’s tunes. Louis was chatting to one of his regulars, discussing the importance of music videos and how they can make or break a song, when a pink box was placed on the counter in front of him. He looked up, and was startled to see Harry smiling widely at him.

“Harry, what are you doing here?”  It was a surprise, but a nice surprise at that. Louis wasn’t even in a panic over his clothes, because he looked pretty decent tonight in black skinnies that he rolled up at the ankle – he liked his tattoos okay, he was allowed to be a twat and show them off – a light purple V-neck and black vans. And let’s also praise the heavens that he did his hair as well.

Louis’ regular gave him a tip of the hat and moved down the bar, letting Harry squeeze in and lean across the bar so Louis could hear him better. “What can I say, I get impatient sometimes. So, here I am.”

Louis tapped the box with a finger. “What’s in there?”

Harry grinned. “Open it. I made you something,”

He opened the lid cautiously, and stood staring at the inside dumbfounded. He whipped his head back at Harry, who’s eyes were glittering with mischief. “You made me cupcakes with...” he peered in closer. “Giant fondant penises on them,”

Harry looked over the box and back at Louis. “You know what fondant is?”

Louis nodded. “I have a slight Food Network problem,” he pointed at one of them. “So, is this an accurate representation?”

Harry laughed. “Guess you’re going to have to find out yourself.”

“Hmm. Right. So, why is it that you know how to make little fondant cocks?”

Harry slipped onto a stool while Louis passed him over a beer. “We get a lot of requests from hen parties. And drag queens.”

Louis couldn’t help but smile back. Harry serving cupcakes to drag queens. That painted quite an image. He noticed Niall walking by the bar, so he hollered at him to come over. He looked at Louis in question. “What?”

Louis turned the box around, opening to lid for him. “Have a cupcake,”

His face brightened instantly as he reached in to grab one. “Cheers!” He stuffed it in his mouth, not even noticing the top of it.

Louis grinned evilly. “Look at that, we finally got a cock in your mouth!”

He froze, glancing into the box again. He then shrugged to himself a few moments later, swallowing the remainder. “Yeah, and I’ll need a couple hundred more if I ever want to catch up to you.”

Harry choked on his beer, bursting out into laughter. Niall clapped him on the back. “Really good though, Harry, please feel to bring us penis shaped goods any time you like.”

Louis glared at him as he skipped away; speaking mostly to himself. “I suppose I deserve that after many years of torturing him,” He turned back to Harry, who was watching him with varied interest. “So,”

A slow smile spread across Harry’s lips. “So.”

Louis had already sent Zayn home early since they were so slow, and he figured he could probably bugger off as well if he delegated some duties to the other bartender that was working. “So, I don’t live that far from here…I just need to sort some things out before I leave. Give me like ten minutes?”

Harry nodded, finishing his beer and grabbed the box off the counter. “I’ll be outside.”

*

Louis strolled out the door right on time for once, finding Harry sitting on the curb playing with his phone. Louis plopped down next to him, noting the box at his feet. He reached over and opened the lid, pulling a cupcake out to take a bite. He looked at Harry, impressed. “These are bloody sinful. Red velvet?”

Harry leaned over, moving his face closer and closer to Louis’, until his lips were just hovering over his. He sucked Louis’ lower lip with his mouth, causing him to part his lips. When he felt Harry’s tongue against his, he had to reach out a hand to steady himself. He grasped onto the back of his neck to pull him in closer and deepen the kiss. Harry parted away first, his pupils a little blown out. “Yes. Definitely red velvet.”

Louis blinked at him a few times before standing up to hail a cab. He practically shoved Harry into it and refrained from climbing right on top of him. He flicked little glances at him on the short (but longest) cab ride back to his place, which caused Harry to bite back a smile and stare out his window.

They jumped out and Harry stopped in his tracks, glancing at Louis with a worried look on his face. “You live here?”

Louis had already started up the path to the door, pausing as he was about to unlock it. He had this happen on numerous occasions, people being intimidated by the house, so he was used to it by now. “There's no need to be afraid, it’s just a house, Harry.”

He heard him follow up the steps behind him and he flicked on the lights as he walked into the entrance, throwing his keys on a side table. He turned around, hands in his pockets smiling knowingly at Harry, who looked a little dazed. “Rich uncle,”

Harry met his eyes now. “What’s that?”

Louis nodded around the living room. “My uncle left me this. I’m not a secret millionaire, if that’s what you’re wondering,”

“Oh. Alright. Well, it’s amazing.”

Louis stepped back over to him, slightly unnerved now that he had him in his house. “Did you want a tour?”

And it’s like a switch had turned on in Harry, who suddenly looked feral again. “I wouldn’t mind seeing the upstairs,”

Louis glanced up his stairs and heard Harry mumble ‘actually’ while slowly prowling over to him. Louis started to back up, his knees hitting the back of a stair, causing him to sit down. Harry lowered to his knees, fitting himself between Louis legs. He rubbed his thumb along Louis’ lower lip, before leaning in to kiss him. Louis could get used to Harry’s lips. They were soft, plump, and kind of moved like he spoke – slow and languid. He slipped a hand under Louis’ shirt as he moved his lips along his jawline. “I’ve been thinking about you all week. You look good enough to eat tonight,"

Louis grasped onto Harry’s t shirt, pulling at it to let him know he wanted it off. He sat back on his heels, yanking it over his head quickly before crashing his mouth against Louis’ again. He gasped into his mouth. “Yeah, I think the feeling is mutual, Jesus."

Harry was lifting his own shirt for him now, and they were lost in a tangle of lips and hands and limbs on his stairs, which should have been uncomfortable, but Louis was too fucking turned on to care. “I do have a bed you know,” he managed in between another attack of Harry’s lips.

Harry bit down on his collarbone now, reaching for the button on of his jeans. “No, m’gonna blow you on these stairs first.”

Oh. Well that settled that then.

*

Louis lay awake the next morning thinking of all the surfaces he had done horrible things on this past week, and he that thought maybe he should go to church on Sunday. This couldn’t be good. Not that he was religious or anything, but someone needed to hear about his sins. Maybe he would tell Niall. He glanced at the sleeping figure a little ways away from him on the bed – it was king sized, you could fit a family of 10 in there and still not touch – and decided then and there that Harry was the fittest person he had ever brought into this bed. Whose last name he didn’t even know. He cringed inwardly. 

He seemed quite lovely too; he did bring Louis cupcakes after all, and it was still a nice gesture even if they did have giant cocks on them. He had a genuine smile, pretty ridiculous tattoos, and he was most definitely a giver as Louis found out last night. He kind of didn’t want him to leave. He shuffled his body a little closer and stroked his fingers along his back, drawing little patterns along the vast expanse of it. He heard a little sigh and Harry slowly turned over, his curls rumpled and his smile full of sleep.

“Morning. You sleep alright?” His voice sounded raspy and oh so fuckable. This was not a good discovery. And he was actually asking him if he slept alright in his own bed? Oh good god.

He had to laugh. “Just fine thanks. I’ve been up for a while…I feel kind of bad that I don’t know your last name, actually,”

Harry chuckled, moving a little closer, placing a hand on Louis’ hip. “It's Styles…and I know that yours is Tomlinson,” Louis looked surprised. Harry flushed a little. “Ah…Liam makes it a point to know things,”

“Oh my god.”

Harry shook him a little with his hand. “No, no I promise it’s not like that. I only know your last name, I swear.”

Louis looked at him a little warily before letting it go. Not that he had some sordid past or anything, but it was still a little weird. But then again, Harry was just a little hot, so who the fuck cared. He inched over and gently pushed Harry onto his back, hovering over him. “I don't have much to do today since I had plans with a fit, curly haired lad later on, so you could stay for a while if you’re free?”

Louis moved his hand underneath the covers, trailing it down Harry’s chest and stomach, feeling his heartbeat pickup as he continued on lower. Harry licked his lips nodding slowly. “I’m free…” he stuttered a little as Louis started stroking his hand along him. “You better make me forget the fit bartender _I_ was supposed to meet later. He had these amazing collar bones…”

“That shouldn’t be a problem, Harry Styles,” Louis breathed against his neck before giving it a little nip.

*

They actually did make use of the rest of Louis’ house later that day, with Louis putting Harry to work in the kitchen. “You’re a baker, now bake me something,” he demanded, but it came with a kiss so Harry accepted it. He then made him get out of the kitchen and sit on a stool on the other side of the counter so he could watch him.

They exchanged stupid stories about their lives while Harry mixed and measured, Harry telling him about the time he used the line “I’d really like to butter your muffin” which caused Louis to slap a hand over his eyes and groan for at least five minutes.

Harry’s sides were shaking when he finally looked at him again, and Louis rolled his eyes at him. “Please tell me that didn’t work,”

He just grinned, turning around to pull a pan of cookies out of the oven. “A lady never reveals her secrets.”

He started putting the cookies on a cooling rack – Louis didn’t even know what the fuck that thing was for, you learn something new every day – giving Louis an inquisitive look, “What, you’ve never used a cheesy line on someone before?”

“Harry, I have an arse that planets should be orbiting around. I don’t need pick-up lines.”

Harry looked up from his cookies, a smirk growing on his lips. “I don’t quite think I remember what it looks like. I’m definitely going to need to see it again,”

Louis slid off the stool and walked around the counter, crowding into Harry’s space. He slipped one hand underneath the hem of his shirt distracting him, and grabbed a cookie with his other hand, quickly scampering away. Harry chased after him with the spatula. “Tease!”

Louis let out a little shriek, skidding on the hardwood when he heard the front door open. He came to a halt, Harry running into his back, grabbing onto his waist to catch himself, as Zayn stood in halfway in the door gaping at them. Louis bounded over to him. “Zayn! Shit, I almost forgot I told you to come by, how are you?”

Louis babbled when he was caught off guard, Zayn of course knew this. He looked between him and Harry, nodding at the spatula. “Doing some baking are we? This may be one of the most PG first dates Louis has ever had,”

Well that was a relief that Zayn was so dense that he didn’t figure anything else was going on. “Yes, Harry was just showing me how to make some cookies, cause that’s a handy skill right?” Louis looked at Harry with desperation to jump in.

“Yes, because everyone should know how to make a decent chocolate chip cookie.” He smiled winningly at Zayn, noticing the bag in his hand and immediately took control. “Oh, you’re getting ready to meet Liam! Let’s make sure you look all shiny and new for him,"

Zayn suddenly blanched, like he had just remembered why he was at Louis’ “Right. Yeah. Liam. Does he have a favorite color? I really only have black things. I should stop buying so much black.” He looked at Louis a little panicked.

Louis walked over and turned him towards the stairs. “Go up and look in my closet, there’s about a million different colored dress shirts in there. I’ll be there to help in a minute okay?”

He nodded and trudged up the stairs like he was walking to death row. Louis shook his head. They should probably give him a little liquid courage as well. Once he was around the corner, Louis tugged Harry toward him, standing up on his tip toes for a kiss. He smelt like vanilla, and tasted like chocolate chips and the only other thing to complement that would have been a glass of red wine. He knew he was definitely heading down a slippery slope when Louis was pairing Harry with wine. He slipped his tongue over his one more time just to get another taste, deciding that Harry would be well paired with a nice Syrah.

When they broke apart, Louis looked up at him and prayed that his eyes didn’t look as hopeful as he thought they did. “Stay the night?”

Harry leaned back down, nuzzling his ear. “You have me until 6am; then I need to go and bake for other men. I’m very sorry.”

“Slag.”

But they both smiled against each other’s skin.

*

It turned out after all of Zayn’s panicking, that their date went off without a hitch – minus the series of texts that Louis received when Zayn first saw Liam in his fancy cop uniform, which he read as screeching cat noises mostly. The twenty five crying happy face emoji’s were his personal favorite though. But Liam was the perfect gentlemen and asked him out for coffee again the next day, and basically they’ve made excuses to talk to each other about a million times a day, and Louis would be nauseated if he didn’t love Zayn so much.

Harry worked on the weekends during the day and Louis during the night obviously, so they hadn’t seen each other again, but there may have been a few texts of their own sent to each other, and they were 100% dirty. He had the day off on Tuesday, so he was hoping to surprise Harry at work, because a sick part of him fancied seeing him in an apron.

He walked into work on Monday whistling to himself, and saw that Nick was finally back, his legs propped up on his desk, reading something on his Ipad. He knocked quietly, and Nick looked up at him peering over his glasses “How was Spain, you have a good time?”

Nick dropped his legs down and took his glasses off, leaning over the desk to squint at Louis. “You look different,”

Louis brought his hand up to the sides of his head. “Oh, yeah. I got a hair-cut.”

He chewed on the end of his glasses. “Looks good. And Spain was loads of fun. You would have looked lovely in the sun there, you little golden beauty, you.”

Louis blushed, folding his arms across his chest. “I wasn’t invited,”

“Perhaps next time, pet.” Nick reached under his desk pulling out a bag, wiggling it a Louis. “I brought you a present, though.”

Louis laughed. “Right. Naked maracas.”

“So, your place or mine after?”

And Louis just kept on laughing because he was so fucked. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of cutsey shit because I like it :)

Louis felt the guilt tug in the pit of his stomach as he rounded the block that the bakery Harry worked at was on. Yes, he has only known Harry for a week, but he was charming and nice, and didn’t deserve to be dragged into Louis’ mess of a life right now. Yet here Louis was, drawn to Harry like a magnet, he just couldn’t seem to stay away. He knew that he needed to deal with the whole Nick debacle, but he truly didn’t know how to yet, so instead he was going to drown his sorrows in baked goods and Harry’s smile. This seemed like a much more adult way to deal with things (which was to avoid dealing with it all together).

He shook his thoughts away as he pulled open the door to the bakery, and was quite shocked at how big it was. The whole front entrance was display case upon display case of all kinds of cookies, cakes, pastries and bread, and in the back there was a little tea room attached with a few scattered tables and chairs. It had a nice homey feel to it, and he noticed from some newspaper clippings framed on the wall that it had been around for many years. It was strange, he hadn't ever heard of it before, but then again why would he? That’s what he had a mum for. Now that he had seen it, he could definitely picture Harry working there.

It was fairly busy as well; he was surprised to already see a line of people ordering custom made cakes. Who knew there was such a high demand, he wondered as he scanned behind the counter to look for a familiar set of green eyes. He instead landed on a nice looking older woman that was working behind the counter, who looked up at Louis with kind eyes. “Can I help you, love?”

Louis ran a hand through his hair, feeling a bit sheepish now. “Yes, actually, I was wondering if Harry was working?”

She nodded, giving him a warm smile, and Louis suddenly had a pang in his heart for his mum. “He just ran out for bit, he should be back soon. How about I bring you a cup of tea and you can wait for him…” she motioned towards the room in the back.

Louis smiled gratefully. “Sure, yeah, thank you.”

She waved him away. “Go have a seat, I’ll get the tea brewing,”

Louis gave her another smile before turning and wandering over to the other room, looking around for a seat. He noticed a woman around his gran’s age sitting at a corner table, humming softly to herself, knitting some sort of blanket and looking quite happy and content. Louis wondered what that felt like. He chose the table next to hers and pulled out his phone to make himself look busy. It’s not like he had a handy skill like knitting to keep him occupied. He scrolled through his messages, frowning at the one from Nick about the maracas and instantly deleted it, like that would erase the whole night from ever happening. He scrubbed at his eyes, sighing deeply.

“You seem upset dear, are you alright?”

Louis was startled by the soft voice, and he turned his head to meet friendly green eyes. “Oh no, I’m quite well. Just you know, life,” he huffed out with an awkward laugh. Great, now he was bothering grannies with his issues.

She gave him a soft knowing smile as she placed her knitting needles aside. “Well dear, as you can see I don’t have much to do here if you’d like to have a chat? Come join me for a cuppa,”

Louis hesitated at first but thought what the hell, she was probably lonely, and hey, somebody actually _wanted_ to listen to Louis whine for once! He couldn’t pass that up now could he? He got up and walked to her table, holding out a hand. “Louis,”

She grabbed it firmly in her own much to his surprise, as he slid into the chair across from her. “Sally.” He grinned at her as she picked up the teapot. “Alright Louis, what are the troubles of you young people nowadays?”

Louis laughed, accepting the tea cup from her. “This is probably going to sound quite ridiculous to you, but here we go. Recently, I met someone I quite fancy. But, there's also another person that I’ve been seeing on and off I suppose. So, I don’t really know what to do,”

She placed a hand on her chest. “My, my. Busy aren’t you?”

Louis blushed, hanging his head down to look at the table. He heard a soft chuckle, and felt a hand pat his arm. “I’m only teasing. But I can tell you, you’ve already answered your question,”

“I’m sorry?”

She gave him another knowing pat. “You said fancy while explaining the one person, yet no sentiment for the other.”

Louis stilled; his tea halfway up to his mouth. “Shit, I suppose you’re right,” he glanced up quickly. “Sorry.”

“Oh don't be sorry, I've been known to drop an f bomb or two in my day,"

Louis’ tea cup clattered against the little plate and Sally burst out into laughter at the shock on his face. She was almost better than hanging out with Zayn and Niall. 

They both smiled at each other laughing again, when Louis heard his name being called. “Louis?”

He turned around to face Harry, who was looking at them with a lop sided smile. He walked over, placing a hand on Sally’s shoulder, giving it a gentle rub. “Granny, was this young man bothering you?”

Louis swallowed a few times, trying to bite down his panic. She winked at Louis. “No darling, Louis and I were having a lovely chat here, weren’t we?”

Harry cocked an eyebrow at him. He coughed a little before answering. “Yes, perfectly lovely.”

Another voice entered the room now. “Oh dear, I forgot all about your tea…oh,”

Louis had forgotten all about the original tea he was supposed to have as well. Harry spoke up. “It’s alright mum, Granny here has taken over serving duties apparently,”

First Granny, now Mum? Good god, the whole Styles family was surrounding him, and Louis was definitely full on panicking now. Do not think of the things you’ve done to her son, do not… oh god, Louis wanted to die. He just figured out that he _really_ fancied Harry, and now he was meeting his family, and this was a little more than Louis had set out for today in terms of goals.

Harry, however, seemed to be very amused by the whole thing. “Mum, this is my friend Louis, he works over at Nick’s, you know that club down in Soho?”

Oh great, Nick, let’s bring that up too. Harry’s mum brightened. “Oh sure, sure. That must fun, what do you do there, Louis?”

Sleep with my boss, Louis thought with hysterical laughter. “I bar tend. It’s a laugh, two of my friends work there as well, so. We have good time,”

“Good for you, love, sounds brilliant.” She grasped Harry’s granny around the arm, nodding towards the door. “Let’s go and catch some sun, mum, I need a bit of a walk. Let the boys have a visit.”

She got up slowly and reached over to Louis, tugging the sleeve of his hoodie indicating for him to lower himself to her level. He did so and she leaned up to place a kiss on his cheek and whispered quietly, “I fancy him too, dear.”

Louis blushed furiously as they walked out of the room, and could feel Harry’s eyes burning a hole into him. He looked up and had to laugh. “Is there anyone else in the Styles family that I’m going to be meeting today?”

Harry grinned. “I think you’re safe. To what do I owe the visit? I’m not complaining, trust me.”

Louis shrugged. “I was curious. It's a nice place you have here. And your family is charming, by the way. I see where you get it from.”

Now it was Harry’s turn to blush. “Well, Granny has a way with people. She gets lonely, so that’s why she comes here during the day. Sorry if she was bothering you,”

“Harry, you do not need to apologize, in fact I should be the one saying sorry to her for having to listen to me.”

Harry kicked out a foot, brushing at his shin. “Oh yeah? What were you talking about?”

Louis waved it off. “Nothing important.”

Harry made a humming noise, while they both stood there looking at each other. Louis tugged at the string of his hoodie for something to do with his hands.

Harry stepped closer to him, placing a hand on his hip. “I really want to kiss you right now,”

Louis darted his eyes around nervously. “Harry, you have customers.”

He leaned down, his lips inches from Louis’ “It''s just a kiss, Louis,"

Louis sighed and let go, letting Harry brush his lips softly against his. That’s all it was, just a light brief touch and then it was gone, like it never even happened. Harry squeezed his hip. “See? Nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Louis pushed him playfully. “I’m _not_ embarrassed, it’s just you have family here and all that,”

Harry smiled. “I hate to break it to you, but you’re not the first guy to meet my mum.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Okay Casanova, settle down. I was just trying to be a gentleman.”

“You can be a gentlemen? This comes as a surprise,”

Louis pinched him in the side, earning him a slap on the hand. “Fine. I won’t ask you to dinner then.”

Harry folded his arms cross his chest, indifference on his face. “Good, because I have plans.”

Louis tried feigning indifference as well. “Oh, of course you do, it's fine, I--”

Harry laughed, unable to keep his poker face. “Luckily, the plans are with our friends, so I would love it if you came along.”

Louis darted his eyes up, confused. “What?” and then it dawned on him. “Wait a minute…you want me to go on double date with Liam and Zayn?”

Harry’s laughed deepened. “Jesus, Louis, you said double date like it was in the same category as Hitler.”

Louis frowned. “I don’t think you grasp just how disturbing this is going to be. You don’t know Zayn that well. He fawns, Harry. _Fawns_.”

Harry held onto his shoulders, searching his eyes with a serious look. “We can sharsies our food if you want to compete with them.”

Louis glared back at him. “If you ever say that to me again I will punch you in the face,”

Harry pulled him into a hug, his chin resting on Louis’ head. “And they say that romance is dead.”

*

Louis hadn’t been keeping count of all the eye rolls he had done that night, or how many times Zayn kicked him under the table, but it was pretty high up there. They had ended up at a dimly lit pub for some cheap beer and fish and chips, and although Louis was horrified by the term double date, it wasn’t half bad. Aside from Liam and Zayn petting each other every five minutes.

Louis threw a chip at Zayn’s head. “God, get a room already,”

Zayn threw it right back, hitting him square in the forehead. “We’re not even doing anything, or would you prefer for us to get it on right here at the table,"

Louis pulled a face. “If it were anyone but you, yes. _You_ would probably ‘make love.’”

Zayn shook his head laughing. He looked at Harry. “He’s insufferable you know. I don’t know what a nice guy like you is doing with him,”

“He’s using me for my prime real estate like the rest of you lot,” Louis pointed his fork out. “Not you, Liam. You’re my only ally here.”

Liam smiled, his eyes shining. “Happy to be, I’ve got your back."

Louis raised his glass in a toast. “I like him, Zayn. You may have his hand in marriage, Liam, you have daddy Louis’ best wishes.”

Zayn gave him a disgusted look. “Please don’t call yourself daddy again.”

Harry wriggled his eyebrows. “Ooh, is this a kink of yours?

Louis heard Zayn mumble quietly into his glass ‘I wonder where he got that from’, which garnered him a hard kick from Louis.

Zayn jumped in his seat, causing him to spill some of his drink. That earned them a couple of worried glances from Harry and Liam.

Harry bumped his shoulder. “Why are you abusing your friend?”

Louis huffed into his drink. “Because he’s being a dick."

Harry looked between the two of them, confused, but dropped it. Louis put his drink down. “I’m going to the loo,”

He didn’t bother looking back at the table, and tried not to storm off like a diva. He looked at himself angrily in the mirror, cursing himself for letting something so stupid get to him. He heard the door open and turned to meet Zayn’s eyes.

“You used to be much better at taking a joke,”

“I went home with Nick again last night,” he blurted out.

Zayn’s face fell. “Louis, what the fuck? I thought you had an amazing weekend with Harry?”

Louis’ face twisted in frustration. “I did! Fuck…I’m so bloody confused,”

Zayn reached out to rub his arm.“Hey, listen to me. Harry really likes you, and I can tell you're already done for him too, so what exactly is it about Nick that makes you keep going back?”

Louis sighed, leaning back against the sink. “I don’t know…when we’re alone he’s different. I just like him you know? I can’t explain it.”

“I don’t want to tell you what to do, but you’re eventually going to have to make a decision, you know.”

He looked down at his feet now nodding in agreement. “I know. I’m sorry I ruined your dinner,”

He felt the arms wrap around him, tucking him into his chest. Zayn scratched his fingers on the back of his head. “Don’t be a twat, you didn’t ruin dinner.” He pulled back, brushing his thumb along Louis’ cheek. “For the record, I would pick Harry.”

Louis smirked. “Oh, should I break the bad news to Liam, then?”

Zayn pinched his cheek. “Very funny.” He gave a dreamy sigh. “Liam is perfect, no one would compare.”

Louis groaned, leaning his forehead against Zayn’s. “I’m going to throw up. But while were on the subject, please think about getting married in Italy. I think a quaint affair at a winery would be perfect.”

Zayn gave him a questioning look. “Have you been planning my wedding?”

Louis looked innocent. “I mean, I haven’t done any research online or anything, nor do I have a folder called Ziam’s wedding plans. Cause that would be odd.”

Zayn’s mouth dropped. “Louis Tomlinson, you romantic little arsehole. I’m truly shocked,”

He shrugged, draping an arm over his shoulders to lead him out of the bathroom. “Only when it comes to you, baby. Nothing makes me happier than my Zaynie being happy.”

Zayn poked him in the side. “I think _I’m_ going to throw up now.”

They separated before getting back to the table; Harry looking up at him expectantly. “Alright?”

He smiled, sliding back into the booth, squeezing his knee under the table to reassure him. “I’m good.”

*

They all said their goodbyes outside, Zayn and Liam sharing a cab back to Zayn’s place for a ‘platonic’ sleepover as he told Louis. And Louis knew it would be exactly that, because Zayn had the strongest will power of anyone he had ever met. He should be in the Guinness book of world records or something.

That left him and Harry dancing around each other on the topic of going home. Louis knew that he couldn’t go home with Harry, it just wasn’t right. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t snog him senseless before leaving. He met his eyes and gave him a predatory grin, before pushing him against the side of the pub.

He locked his lips around Harry’s and immediately heard the moan that escaped his lips, his hands travelling down Louis’ body to grab onto his arse, pulling him in closer. Okay that moan didn’t help Louis’ cause; he just wanted a taste of Harry before he sent him on his way. He groaned into his mouth, “Fuck, why do you always taste like cookies? This isn’t helping,”

Harry laughed against his lips. “I’ve never been told that, but I like it.” He latched onto Louis’ mouth again, running his fingers along his sides now, causing him to shiver against the touch. He broke off, lips brushing against Louis’ ear. “You’re a tease you know,”

Louis stood back, a lusty smile on his face. “Just wanted to give you something to remember me by. I wish I could go home with you tonight, but why don’t you come by the bar on Thursday night?” Louis figured if he presented it in one run on sentence, then Harry wouldn’t ask about why they couldn’t spend the night together tonight.

Harry leaned in for another kiss full of cookie dough goodness – seriously this was a mystery that Louis would never solve - his eyes sparkling when he pulled away again. “I'll be there, and thanks for sending me home half hard , I’ll be thinking of you when I have to take care of that later.”

Louis stepped away, reaching his arm out to hail down a cab. It pulled to the corner and he turned back to Harry, giving him a wink. “Likewise.”

*

Louis twirled his keys in his hand and stopped short when he saw the figure sitting on the bottom of his stairs. “Nick? What are you doing here?”

He looked up from his phone, giving Louis an awkward smile. “I couldn’t sleep.”

Louis walked up to him cautiously. “Did something happen? Are you okay?”

He stood up nodding. “Yeah, yeah, love. Everything’s fine…it’s…it’s silly. I should just go,”

He started walking past Louis, and he grabbed his jacket to turn him around. “What are you doing, just come inside,”

Louis let them into the house and felt Nick’s chin rest on his shoulder. “I didn’t want to sleep alone,” he whispered against Louis’s neck.

He followed Louis upstairs and they undressed wordlessly before crawling under the covers. Louis reached over to turn the lights out and closed his eyes, listening to the sound of Nick breathing. He spoke into the darkness. “Nick, we can’t do this anymore.”

Nick found his hand under the covers and laced their fingers together. “Okay, love.”

“I met someone, Nick.”

Nick tugged on his hand, pulling him toward his chest. Louis rolled over, shuffling under the crook of his arm. “Does he make you happy?”

Louis ran his fingers along Nick’s side aimlessly. “I think he really will. But I need a chance to find out for sure, okay?”

He felt Nick nod and kiss the top of his head. "Do what you have to do. Though I do have to say, I'll miss the sex,"

Louis laughed against his chest. “I’m sure there are many others that fill my spot just fine.”

“Ah, but you’re my very favorite,"

Louis rolled his eyes. “Goodnight, Nick.”

“Goodnight, Louis.”

*

Louis was grinning at Zayn on Thursday night, making a series of shots for the rowdy crowd that was occupying the front of the bar. The band they had in that night wer a fairly big deal, and apparently brought out the inner alcoholic in people. One of the guys in the front insisted that Louis do a shot with him, and it just so happened to be tequila, so when Harry walked up to the bar, it was at the most inconvenient of times. Louis caught the dark look in his eyes as the guy Louis was doing the shot with licked a patch of salt off his wrist. Louis shrugged helplessly, and tried to suck on the lime in such a way that he hoped Harry would forget about what just happened seconds earlier.

He crowded up to the bar, pushing himself in next to Tequila Shooters guy, who was pulling on Louis’ arm to speak to him closer. “You have the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen,” he slurred out. That was enough for Harry, who hopped up on the railing of the bar to hoist himself over enough to grab Louis’ face and stuff his tongue down his throat. He licked his lips after, winking at the guy beside him. “Thanks for the shot.” The guy looked so spooked after that, that he took his beer and left without making any more eye contact with Louis.

Louis flicked his towel at Harry. “Play nice with the clientele, they pay my way, you know.”

Harry’s eyes flashed a bit. “He can play with a different bartender. This one’s taken.”

God damn, green was a good color on Harry. “Do you want to do a tequila shot with me too, will that make you feel better?”

He immediately smiled that big goofy grin of his. “Loads better.”

Louis shook his head, but started pouring the shots, placing one in front of Harry, picking his up to cheers him. Harry frowned, shaking his head. “No, this won’t do,”

“Why not, I gave you the good tequila and everything.”

Harry grabbed his arm, nodding at him to come around to the other side of the bar. Louis obliged, and stood in front of Harry waiting. He pulled him in-between his legs, reaching for the salt shaker. Louis watched in a trance as Harry sucked on two fingers, wetting them against Louis’ neck. He shook the salt over it and immediately leaned in to suck it off, running his tongue along it before downing the shot. It took all of Louis’ strength not to let his eyes roll into the back of his head. Harry sucked on his lime now, giving Louis a wicked grin.

Louis then noticed Zayn snapping his fingers at him, which had Louis hauling ass back around the bar. He placed his shot in front of Harry. “Looks much hotter when you do it, babe,” and got himself back to work. He didn’t know how to concentrate though when Harry was throwing him fuck me eyes left, right and center.

Louis groaned and leaned his arms against the bar of the bar to take a breather for a moment. Zayn sidled up next to him, running a hand along his back. “Are you not feeling well?”

Louis did almost wince a little, because no he wasn’t feeling well, he was so hard that it was causing him emotional distress. “Do you think Nick would mind if I fucked the living day lights out of Harry in the break room?”

Zayn dropped his forehead to Louis’ shoulder. “Good lord.”

“Help me Zayn; I’m not as strong as you!”

Zayn was quiet for a few moments before speaking up again. “Fine. I’ll cover for you and tell Nick you came down with something,”

Louis smirked, “Oh, I’ll be going down on something, alright.”

Zayn smacked him on the side of the head. “I’m only doing this because you’re planning my fictional wedding to Liam, and it sounds beautiful.”

Louis pulled up from the bar. “Okay, what do I do?”

Zayn pushed him towards the back. “Go out the side entrance. I’ll tell Harry to meet you out there. And you better not be able to walk for a week after this.”

“I don’t fucking bottom god dammit!”

Zayn patted him on the cheek. “Sure you don’t. Now go.”

Louis gave him a slap on the ass before looking around the bar to see if anyone was watching them, and then discreetly slipped away out their back door.

He rocked back and forth on his feet in the cool night air, a little nervous now about getting caught, when Harry finally rounded the corner.

“What's going on, Zayn said you weren’t feeling well?” Harry reached out a hand to feel his forehead.

Louis grabbed it and yanked him forward, shoving Harry’s hand down the front of his jeans. He looked at Louis’ with wide eyes. “Dr. Styles, I’m having an ‘I really need to fuck you’ emergency. So, let’s go and take care of this.”

...

And when Louis watched Harry above him later on that night, and saw the way the moon looked against his porcelain skin, and heard the moan that escaped from his obscene pink lips, he was certain that was the best fake sick day he had ever used at work.  


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things get a bit angsty (as they do) and I am sorry for the ending ahhhhh xoxo

Louis was beginning to appreciate Friday mornings a lot more, especially when he turned over to see Harry all tangled up in his sheets. It was almost _too_ much of a sight for him. He looked so peaceful and childlike when he was sleeping, t was until he suddenly shifted, doing a cat like stretch in his sleep, and when Louis watched as some of the sheets fell away, he was reminded of just how undeniably sexy he was.

He was all hard lines and taught muscle, Jesus H, his fucking back alone made Louis question his sanity.  You could tell that he took care of himself. Maybe a little too much. Louis himself liked to pretend to care about working out, so that should count for something. One time he and Niall even talked about joining a gym, but instead ended up at all you can eat sushi, getting drunk off massive Sapporo’s. Not to say that Louis hated activity completely, he was pretty sure he got a nice workout last night with Harry, plus he tried to play football whenever he got the chance. He was also a firm believer in the excuse that he’s a bartender, therefore is on his feet all night a work, plus he had all these stairs in his house. So, when presented that way, he was a like a regular triathlete in his mind.

He closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the rain beating against the windows, and was kind of happy that it was gloomy out, as it gave him a reasonable excuse to be lazy and take advantage of all this exposed skin in front of him. Louis liked a good quickie as much as the next person, but there was something about Harry that made him feel like a teenager again; he could not stop wanting to just _touch_ him. He was going to link this unreasonable need to feel Harry’s skin all the time to the fact that he tasted and smelt like baked goods.

He crawled over to Harry and gently tugged the sheets down a little lower, giving him a little more access to his chest. He traced his fingers along the outline of his butterfly tattoo, a faint smile on his lips. Louis had never thought to ask what it meant to him, he thinks maybe because it was just _so_ Harry. Louis was sure there was a meaning behind all of the quirky designs on Harry’s body, and in all honestly they really kind of looked a bit of a mess, but it suited him for some reason. He moved his head down, placing a series of kisses along the warm skin of his stomach, feeling the muscles contract under his touch. He shifted down to Harry’s hip, mouthing at his v line, earning him a contented noise, even though when he peered up, Harry seemed to still be asleep.

He dragged the sheets down impossibly lower, testing out a kiss on the soft flesh of Harry’s inner thigh. He flicked his tongue out, nibbling softly with his teeth, when he suddenly heard a low moan and felt Harry’s hand’s grip into his hair.

“Oh my god, Louis, what are you doing,” he croaked out, his voice gravelly with sleep.

“Good morning to you as well,” Louis said with a sly little grin spreading across his lips as he looked up at Harry, who was watching him through slit eyelids, his chest quickly puffing in and out. He cocked an eyebrow. “I can stop…?”

Harry bit his lip, shaking his head in protest. “No…no…I’ll even make you breakfast…don’t stop.”

Louis smiled now, resuming his previous position, murmuring against Harry’s thigh. “You don’t have to bribe me with breakfast, I like making you feel good.”

Harry let out a breathy laugh. “I feel like that's all you've been doing that for the last 12 hours,”

“Well, you’re pretty addictive.”

A groan left his lips once Louis placed his own around the tip of Harry's cock. “So is your mouth.”

Louis hummed. “I know. Now, be quiet and let me wake you up properly.”

*

An hour later, Harry gave him a smile that was still full of sleep, turning on his side and tucking into the pillow. “Why is your bed so comfortable? It makes it very hard to leave,”

Louis reached out his fingers to push the hair away from Harry’s forehead. “That’s the whole point. It’s a trap you see, Harry.”

“I do see." He leaned into Louis' touch, "At least let me make you breakfast before I get out of your hair,”

Louis gave him a quick peck on the lips. “I’ve heard there’s a rule that you can’t say no to a baker when they want to cook for you."

Harry rolled his eyes, easing off the bed to look for his clothes. “Can’t say I’ve heard that one before,” Harry riffled around on the floor, while Louis admired him in all of his naked glory. He picked up a shirt, turning to Louis with a smirk. “Big Dr Dre fan, are we?”

Louis looked at the shirt mildly confused until a light bulb went off in his head. Oh. Shit. Yeah…that was Nick’s shirt. “I don’t know how you can make fun of this, I have hip hop music aficionado written all over me.” Louis turned away to start dressing himself now, mostly to avoid looking at the t shirt. He felt Harry’s arms around him, his lips pressed against Louis’ ear.

“I think you’re very hard core.” He could hear the smile in his voice.

Louis bit him playfully on the arm, extracting a yelp from Harry. “Quite being cheeky and make me some breakfast.”

But apparently Louis wasn’t safe from Nick yet; as he sat in the kitchen flipping through a magazine that he was certain was not his. Louis would remember buying a copy of Glamour magazine. Now he just wished he knew why Nick was buying it and leaving it at his house. Though it wasn’t half bad he thought as he got further into it. He heard Harry clear his throat but didn’t lift his head up as he was too involved in an article about some Jake guy. “Hmm, what’s up?”

“Did you know you have condoms in your fruit bowl?”

Louis felt his eyes widen, but kept his head down and trained on the magazine. Nick strikes again. He laughed it off meeting Harry’s eyes. “Wouldn’t want the bananas to impregnate the other fruit now would we?”

Harry chuckled, grabbing one of the bananas out of the bowl. “You seem just as mystified by all these things in your house as I am. Are you sure you actually live here?”

Louis laughed it off...again – he hoped not awkwardly – “I do have two friends that tend to leave their shit everywhere, so that’s a large part of it,"

Harry shook his head, puttering around the stove now; cracking eggs into a pan. “I’ve never seen condoms in the kitchen.”

“I’m sure we'll thank them for it one day, Harry.”

*

Harry left a little while later and Louis decided to pay Niall a visit because he had only really seen him at work lately, and he needed to discuss that mornings events with someone. Louis sent him a quick message to let him know that he was on his way over, and made sure to bring him a Green Tea Frappuccino – for whatever reason, Niall was convinced this was making a conscious effort at being healthy, and who was Louis to begrudge him of that.

Niall opened the door with a wide smile, made even wider by his gift of Starbucks. “You’re the best, Lou,” he exclaimed as he happily accepted his drink.

Louis followed him inside, kicking the door closed behind him. “Yeah, I don’t know about that.”

Niall sat on the couch, putting his feet up on the coffee table to make himself comfortable. “Uh oh. What have you done now?” he said around a sip of his drink, a satisfied smile stretching across his face.

Louis came around and plopped down next to him, slouching down into the cushions. "I lied about being sick last night so I could go home and fuck Harry. Then I lied to Harry this morning about all of Nick’s shit that’s apparently lying around my house,”

Niall eyed him up with a bemused smile. “What’s with all the fibbing, Pinocchio?”

Louis groaned, curling into Niall’s side. “ _I don't know._ This is what it's like when girls find underwear that isn't their in their boyfriends beds, isn't it,"

Niall snorted, ruffling up his hair. “No, it really isn't."

He huffed. “Why not?”

“Did Harry find Nick’s underpants in your bed?”

Louis grumbled, crossing arms across his chest. “No,”

Niall snickered now. “I rest my case.” He then went silent for a moment, his face etched in thought. He looked a Louis a minute later in confusion. “But wait…if a guy finds another guys underpants in his bed, how would you be able to tell whose they were in the first place?”

They stared at each other in bewilderment for a few minutes, before Niall broke the silence. “Should we go and get a pint before work?”

And that is why Louis and Niall were friends.

*

Louis didn’t feel like having a Zayn lecture at work that night, so he opted not to tell him about that mornings shenanigans. He leaned lazily against the bar, waiting for the crowd to start trickling in. He glanced over at Zayn, who was methodically cleaning a glass “Hey, where’s Mr. Perfect tonight?”

Louis could appreciate that Zayn didn’t even flinch at the nickname as he continued his inspection of his handiwork. “He’s on a new rotation. He’s off for the next couple of days, he went up to Holmes Chapel with Harry,”

Louis straightened up, placing his hands on his hips. “What do you mean, went to Holmes Chapel?”

Zayn put down the glass, grabbing another while giving him a funny look. “Um exactly how it sounds?” He glanced at Louis again, surprise crossing his face. “Oh…did Harry not tell you he was going home?”

Louis was in shock. “Apparently not, no.”

Zayn hurried over to him, wrapping his hand around his wrist to comfort him. “Hey, it's fine. I’m sure he’ll message you when he gets there. I think it was kind of last minute anyways? He and Liam grew up together, so I’m guessing it must be a family thing if they both went.”

Louis nodded, trying to shrug it off. “Of course it’s fine. He doesn’t have to check in with me.” Zayn didn’t seem to believe him though, looking at him with worried eyes. He gave him his best fake smile. “I’m fine."

*

By the time Thursday came around, it really wasn’t fine. Louis was in full blown panic mode. He hadn’t heard from Harry since the Friday before, and suddenly his life was complete and utter shit. He didn’t understand, he thought the last night and morning they had hung out everything was great. It was more than great, it was actually pretty amazing. The way Harry had looked at him, he couldn’t have possibly have made that up in his mind, could he? Was this because of the kitchen condoms? Were they to blame?

And of course he was in a constant battle with the ‘to text or not to text’ dilemma. He walked around his living room flipping frantically through pages, hoping that Glamour magazine would have some insight for him, when he gave up frustrated, hurling the magazine across the room. “Fucking Glamour. The only thing you’re good for is your Do’s and Don’ts section.”

His phone rang out loudly in the silent room, and he made a dive for it, frowning when he saw the name. “I really hope you don’t want me to come into work tonight, Nick.”

He chuckled. “On the contrary. I’m throwing a 'cheer up Louis' party. Come over.”

“Exactly what kind of party is this?” he asked suspiciously.

“A fun one, so quit pouting alone and get here.”

And with that last demand, Nick hung up. Louis stared at his phone and thought fuck it, he had nothing better to do, and it sure beat moping around and creating conspiracy theories on his own. He ran upstairs to his room to change, because if they were celebrating cheering up Louis, he was going to look the part. He pulled on his tightest pair of jeans, a low cut vest and his softest hoodie and headed out the door to hopefully forget this week.

*

Nick wasn’t kidding when he said that it was going to be a party as Louis looked at all the unfamiliar faces crowding the kitchen. He elbowed Nick in the side, indicating around the room with his beer bottle. “Who are all these people?”

Nick laughed, slinging an arm over Louis. “I have no bloody idea, love.” He looked down at him with a soft smile. “Let’s get obnoxiously drunk.”

...

A few hours later, Louis was well beyond that. His week of emotions had taken somewhat of a toll on him, causing him to become a lush. He had lost count of how many shots he had done, and it was probably best that he couldn’t remember. Nick was in the midst of feeding him another one, his arms octopussed around Nick as he tried to steady himself while he poured it into his mouth. He heard Nick mumble something under his breath. “Whassat?” he slurred out.

Nick nodded towards the entrance of the kitchen. “Zayn’s here,”

Louis shuffled around in Nick’s arms, trying to focus his eyes on Zayn’s face. He squinted his eyes, and yep there it was, and it was glowering at him. He wandered over to the face next to him and froze in Nick’s arms. “Why the fuck is he with Harry?”

Nick muttered ‘oh bloody hell’ under his breath, trying to grab onto Louis, who had wriggled out of his grasp and was making his way over to them. Louis pointed at Zayn, annoyance spread over his face. “Why are you here?”

Zayn glared back at him. “Nice to see you too,"

Louis swung his eyes over to Harry, who was watching him with wide eyed hesitation. “Who’s that you were with?”

Louis narrowed his eyes. “I’m sorry, I haven’t heard from you in almost a week and your first question is 'who’s that?' That’s Nick. That’s all you need to know.”

Harry flushed, and Zayn stepped in front of him pushing Louis back. “What the fuck is your problem right now?"

His voice started to raise, as he swayed on his feet. “I don’t have any problems. Did you guys have a nice night catching up? Not sure why you bothered to show up here,”

Zayn was gritting his teeth now. “Maybe if you checked your phone you’d see that we wanted to see you… _Harry,_ wanted to see you.”

Louis leaned over to catch Harry’s eyes again, tipping his beer at him. “Here I am. You came. You saw. You can go now.”

He turned to leave and saw a hand land on his arm. He looked behind him quickly, seeing a flash of green eyes. “Louis…”

He tugged his arm away. “I’m going to bed.”

He heard the 'this isn't your house' as he pushed his way through the crowd to get to the hallway that Nick’s room was down, and fell down face first on the bed, blacking out not moments later.

*

Louis woke up the next morning to Nick’s amused face perched on the end of his bed. He shook his head, clearing his eyes… oh wait – this was Nick’s bed – of course. He rubbed his eyes, a long sigh escaping his mouth.

“I would like to point out that you crawled in here on your own accord,”

Louis blinked open his eyes again, looking anxiously at Nick. “I’m guessing Zayn was still here then?”

Nick nodded, crawling up the bed to fall down beside him. He laid out on his back, fingers clasped together on his chest. “That he was, and your friend Harry as well,”

At the sound of Harry’s name, flashes of the night before came back to him, causing him to roll over and bury his face into Nick’s side. “Fuck.”

Nick pat his head. “I’m going to assume he was the reason you were acting like a little twat last night?”

Louis groaned again. “Fuck.”

Nick ran a hand through his hair, smoothing down some of his bed head. “You already said that, love.”

He rolled onto his back again, racking his brain to think about what had happened the night before. “Why was he even here?”

“Dunno. Looking for you I guess. I did invite Zayn after all.”

Louis wanted to suffocate himself with a pillow, cringing at the memories of how he treated Harry and Zayn. Nick spoke softly. “Do you want to tell me why you were giving lover boy such a hard time?”

Louis ran his fingers mindlessly along the sheets. “I hadn’t spoken to him in almost a week. I was angry and confused, and seeing him while I was drunk was not the way to work out those feelings. Clearly,”

Nick grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze. Louis looked up and saw the knowing smile on his face. “So, just calling him would have been out of the question, then?”

Louis frowned. “Stop being logical. It doesn’t suit you.”

Nick leaned over to kiss his forehead. “You must really like him for these kinds of dramatics. You don’t even like me that much,” he mused.

Louis shot him a look of concern. “Nick…”

He gave his hand another little squeeze. “I’m only teasing. As much as I enjoyed our arrangement, I want you to be happy. You’re obviously quite attached to him,”

Louis flushed, looking down at his chest to pick at an invisible piece of lint. “I know; which is completely ridiculous. Don’t you think it’s a bit soon? Like very, very soon? I must be insane.” He looked back over at Nick in hopes that he would reassure him that he needed to be shipped off to an asylum.

Instead he simply shrugged. “Sometimes you just know. Who cares how soon it is? Some people never find that, so just embrace it.”

Louis stilled for a moment, a little bit shocked that this had just come out of Nick Grimshaw’s mouth. He frowned again. “When the fuck did you get so wise?”

“I’ve _always_ been wise, Louis.”

Louis grumbled under his breath, earning him a laugh. “You can fix this, just talk to him. And maybe take some apology muffins with you. You may need to grovel a bit.”

“He works in a bakery. He has _all_ the muffins,”

Nick sighed. “Then may I suggest some good old fashioned make up sex? Perhaps in the kitchen,” he said thoughtfully.

Louis snorted. “Yeah, with the condoms you left there. Thanks, by the way.”

Nick waved him off. “Where else are you going to put them?” he looked pointedly at Louis as he shook with laughter. “Okay, be serious now. Go clean yourself up and work this out.”

Louis clamored off the bed, picking his clothes up off the floor. “Yes, boss."

Nick snapped his fingers to get his attention again. Louis looked over his shoulder. “I am the boss, don’t you ever forget it.”

Louis straightened up and strode over to Nick, pulling him into a hug. “Never.”

*

He had one very important stop before he made his way home, and he was hoping the caffeine and foolishly large bouquet of flowers he brought with him would help ease the tension. He knocked softly at Zayn’s door, before meeting his caramel eyes, and Louis almost wanted to throw up, they looked so full of hurt.

He placed the coffee and flowers on the ground, grabbing at Zayn to hug him hard against his chest. “I’m so sorry, please don’t look at me like that,”

Zayn dropped his head into Louis’ neck, breathing heavily. “You were a fucking arsehole, you’ve never been like that to me.”

Louis held back the tears behind his eyes, soothing Zayn by rubbing circles into his back. “I know, _god,_ I know. I will apologize to you for the rest of my life if I have to. Can I come in?” He stepped back to see Zayn’s response.

He nodded, waiting for Louis to pick up the flowers and coffee. He followed him inside, shoving them into Zayn’s hands, smiling at him awkwardly. “I don’t know, mum always buys flowers when something’s wrong. It seemed like the right thing to do?”

Zayn cracked a smile, bringing them to his nose to smell. “It doesn’t hurt. They’re really nice, thanks."

He ran a hand through his hair, pacing back and forth in the living room. “I didn’t mean to take it out on you, Zayn. I’m just so confused about Harry, and I was shocked to see him there. You know me; I had all day by myself to come up with all these crazy fucking theories as to why he stopped calling me. Then I had all of the alcohol, and that’s really not an exaggeration, I’m pretty sure I drank all of it. And that’s how I ended up being a prick to you guys. And that's not an excuse. I’m sorry.” He let out a deep sigh.

Zayn nodded slowly, crossing his arms. “I was just a little taken aback. I didn’t realize you cared about Harry so much,”

Louis groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m so fucking stupid--”

Zayn cut him off. “You’re not,”

Louis looked over at him in surprise. “I’m not?”

Zayn let out a deep breath, stuffing his hands into his jeans now, shoulders sagging. “You need to talk to Harry,”

“Yeah, I realize that. I’m pretty sure I need to buy the rest of flowers in London before I do it though,”

Zayn shook his head. “No, it’s not that...it’s not my place to say. Just...talk to him today?”

Louis walked over to him, grabbing his shoulders, searching his eyes. “Zayn, you’re freaking me out. Is everything okay?”

He met Louis’s eyes as well, and he could still see that sad glint in them. “Yeah, I’m just tired. But promise me you’ll talk to him before work tonight?”

Louis hugged him tightly, kissing his cheek when he let him go. “It’s the first thing I’m doing once I get home. I’ll see you later?”

Zayn walked him to the door, giving him a soft smile. “As always.” Louis smiled and grabbed the handle. “And, Lou?” he glanced back. “The next time you talk to me like that, I  _will_ punch your lights out. That was your first and last chance.”

“I give you a pass to punch me at least five times.” He leaned over to kiss his cheek once more. “Love you.”

Zayn shut the door, leaning against it with his eyes closed, wishing he could have given Louis some sort of warning about the conversation he was about to get into. “Love you too,” he whispered.

*

Harry was the last person Louis thought would be waiting on his front steps when he got back home. He walked up to him cautiously, pulling off his sun glasses to look at him properly. “You haven’t been waiting long have you?”

Harry shook his head, hands nervously fiddling with one of the necklaces he was wearing. “No, not long. Are you okay?”

He bit his lip, looking at Louis in earnest. Louis laughed uncomfortably. “Harry, I was a fucking prick to you last night, and you’re asking me if I’m okay? Anyone else would have slapped me in the face and been on their way,"

Harry’s lips curved into a small smile. “I don’t want to slap you.” He suddenly looked anxious again. “But, I do need to talk to you? It’s um…about where I was this week.”

Louis felt his stomach tie into knots, but he gave Harry a reassuring smile.

“Course. Come inside.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is written from Harry's point of view...and also I'm sorry :)
> 
> One more chapter after this!! xoxo

Harry followed Louis inside the house and thought about the first time he heard about him. Liam had been dropping subtle hints for weeks that they should meet – “I think that you’ll really get on well” or “Louis just got a new tattoo…you like tattoos”, always accompanied by an encouraging smile. Liam was determined to take care of him, even though he always insisted he didn’t need it. And then Liam would just hold his hand, giving him a sad smile. “Someone has to, Haz.”

When Harry saw Louis for that first time his breath was actually taken away but he did his best to play it cool. Louis was so full of energy and life, he somehow seemed to glow from the inside out, and Harry immediately wanted to touch a piece of that; he needed to know what it felt like. He had tried not to stare at him as he wondered if Louis was as warm as he looked. And once they started talking, he felt so familiar, like a song that you hear the first time and kind of already know the lyrics, yet Harry didn’t know a thing about him. It was the strangest feeling, but he wanted to hold onto it. And that feelig had led him to do something completely out of the ordinary, which was practically throwing himself at Louis. He still didn’t know where all the cocky swagger had come from, which he had laughed about later on the ride home with Liam.

“I can’t believe I invited him back to my place, I don’t know what came over me. You should have heard the things I said to him,” he laughed, looking out the window with a slight blush on his cheeks.

He felt Liam’s hand on his leg, giving him a squeeze. He turned to look at his profile, seeing a smile play on his lips. “It’s perfectly normal, Harry….it’s been a long time you know.”

Harry’s blush deepened. “I know, it's just not really like me,” He pulled out his phone. “Look at this text I sent him,”

Liam threw a look on his face pretending to be scandalized before wiggling his eyebrows. “I figured you would like that tattoo.”

Harry looked back down at his phone, chewing on a smile. He traced his eyes over Liam’s face again. “I think I felt something you know? He’s different…is that weird?”

Liam shook his head, glancing at him a moment before looking back at the road. “Of course it isn’t, Haz. I’m really glad you liked him.”

Harry just nodded, looking out the window again. “I think I’m going to call Greg.” He scrolled through his phone, bringing up the number on speed dial.

“Put him on speaker,”

The phone rang a few times before a familiar voice sounded throughout the car. “S’bit late isn’t it Harry?”

Harry smiled, knowing that he wasn’t really mad for the late night phone call. “Hey,"

Liam called out as well. “Hello Greggy!”

He laughed. “Ah, I see I have you both. What’s up boys?”

Liam spoke up first. “I finally introduced Harry to that guy I was telling you about,”

Harry looked at him with wide eyes, pouting out his lips. “Oh, it’s nice that you guys have been discussing my love life behind my back.”

Greg let out a deep chuckle. “Is Harry giving you that look? You know the one. Sad panda,”

“Of course.”

“Hmm. So, you liked him then, Harry?” Harry took note of the faint hope lining his voice.

Harry silently asked Liam if he could put the phone to his ear, causing Liam to roll his eyes and wave him off. He smiled, answering Greg back now. “Yeah…yeah I did,” he paused a moment, furrowing his brow in concern. “Is this okay? I mean…”

Greg cut him off. “Harry, how many times do I have to tell you that I want you to be happy?” When Harry quieted, he continued on. “Babe, remember what we talked about?”

Harry nodded to himself, closing his eyes. “You only remind me everyday,”

Greg sighed. “And I’m going to keep reminding you. Live your life, Harry. Be happy. For me, please.” He started coughing at the end, causing Harry to snap his eyes open.

“How have you been feeling?”

He laughed it off. “As good as one can be, being bed ridden and all. I’m fine, Harry. Please don’t worry. And hey, don’t make me call your mum,” he warned.

Harry ran a hand through his hair, groaning. “Alright, alright. Besides, we have a date on Friday, so you can’t say I’m not taking your advice.”

“Good.” He yawned into the phone, coughing a little bit again. “I’m going back to bed now. Call me and let me know how it goes…love you, Harry. Tell Liam for me as well.”

Harry swallowed a few times, plastering a smile on his face. “Yeah, love you too. I’ll let him know.”

He hung up, and noticed they were now parked outside his flat. Liam looked up from his phone, and Harry leaned over to see that he was texting Zayn. He smiled for real this time. “I’m really glad I made _that_ a thing. You’re welcome, by the way.”

Liam put the phone down to lean over, pulling him into a hug. “Thank you, Harry. And see? I knew that he would be happy for you,”

Harry tucked his face into Liam’s neck, inhaling his familiar cologne. “I don’t know what I did to deserve it. He’s too good to me.”

Liam pet the back of his head soothingly. “Because you’ve been so good to him, Harry. It works both ways, you know.”

“He said to tell you he loves you too.”

Liam squeezed him harder, and Harry pretended not to hear the sniff. “God, we’re a bunch of saps.”

Harry couldn’t disagree.

*

After he had spent that first night with Louis, he knew in his bones that everything he was feeling was right. He couldn’t get enough of him, and was silently thrilled when he had asked him to stay again. If all it took was making him some chocolate chip cookies, then he would find a million different recipes to try out just to have him look at him that way again.

His mum knew as much when she pulled him aside the day that Louis had come into the bakery. She smiled up at him, placing her palm on his face. “He’s lovely Harry. Granny took quite a shine to him. He looked so scared when he first came in, poor thing.”

Harry swatted her hand away playfully. “If he stuck around after meeting the whole family, that has to say something, right?”

His mum laughed, and it was one of Harry’s favorite sounds. “That’s true.” Her eyes turned serious for a moment. “You know that Greg’s happy for you, right? This is what he wanted. This is a good thing.”

Harry nodded, shuffling back and forth on his feet. “It is. I’m excited, I really like him mum…but I’m scared too, you know?” He looked up and saw the same sad look that Liam always gave him.

She wrapped her arms around him like he was five years old again, cooing softly. “I know baby. I know.”

*

When Harry got the phone call he had been dreading yet waiting for all these months, he knew that he should have let Louis know what was happening, or at least told him that he was leaving, but he already had too much to deal with. It was a shitty thing to do, and he didn’t realize how bad it was until he was confronted by him.

He had wanted to go after him, but Zayn shook his head advising him not to. “Harry, one thing you should know about Louis is that when he gets like this, it’s best to leave him alone. He’s going to feel terrible about it tomorrow, trust me.”

So Harry succumbed and followed Zayn out of the party. They had ended up at an all-night diner, with Harry spilling his whole story to Zayn, and ultimately holding his hand to comfort him. He squeezed his palm, giving him a smile. “Zayn, please don’t cry.”

He wiped his face with the sleeves of his sweater, laughing a little. “I blame Liam for giving me too many feelings.”

And it was Zayn that had let him know that Louis was on his way home, causing Harry to bolt out of his flat and make his way over to his place, nervously playing with his necklaces until he saw him coming up the walkway.

He felt mildly relived that Louis was willing to listen to him, but was anxious all over again now that he was standing in front of him, looking at him expectantly.

Harry scratched his head, pointing at the couch. “Do you mind if we sit?”

Louis wandered over to the couch wordlessly and Harry trailed behind him, sitting down and turning his body to face him. “Is it okay if I hold your hand?”

Louis held it out to him, a nervous smile on his face. “Alright, now you’re scaring me, Harry. This is usually how someone presents bad news.”

Harry frowned, wiping his free hand on his jeans. “Sorry,”

Louis wiggled their hands that were laced together to get his attention. “It’s okay. Go on.”

Harry licked his lips, taking a deep breath. “This is a bit of a long story, so bear with me please?”  Louis nodded, eyes never leaving his face. “I was home last week visiting my ex- boyfriend, Greg…um, how do I begin this…well, we were together when we were in school, for a good couple of years, you know first loves and all that,” Louis nodded and shrugged in agreement, but Harry could see the confusion behind his eyes. “Then, about two years ago he broke up with me suddenly. I didn’t understand it; I tried talking him out of it, I begged him to reason with me, but he wasn’t having any of it. I didn’t know what I did wrong, we were always pretty happy, and we didn’t really fight ever, so it was really out of nowhere,”

He paused to look at Louis to see that he was still following, who gave his hand a squeeze as encouragement. “I was a heart broken mess, and frankly our parents couldn’t take it anymore, so they _made_ him tell me what happened. He…” Harry scratched his jeans, searching for the words he always hated to say out loud. “He was really sick, and was given one of those depressing timelines of how long he had left to live, and that’s why he broke up with me. He couldn’t stand the thought of me putting my life on hold to watch him waste away.”

Harry heard Louis’ breath hitch. “Harry…fuck…”

He shook his head, not looking at Louis yet. “It’s okay, just let me finish…I fought him on it for a long time, refusing to leave his side when he was in the hospital, when it finally came to a point where everyone sat down with me and said that I needed to do something, that I was too young to be torturing myself. So, after a lot of tears and fighting, I finally gave in and came to London with my mum. It was hard at first, but I eventually got rid of the guilt of leaving Greg. I had to. For me _and_ for him. I knew it was hurting him just as much to see me like that.”

When he finally looked over at Louis he could see the tears forming in his eyes. He was holding Harry’s hand so hard their knuckles had almost turned white. “I promised Greg that I would be happy, and believe me, it’s taken a lot of therapy and heart to hearts to get me to a point in my life where I could finally let go and do that,” he nudged Louis’ knee, giving him a sideways smile. “You know, Liam told him all about you, before I even met you.”

Louis looked stunned, and Harry just held his hand tighter, quieting his voice. “I went home for the funeral,”

Louis started crying then, covering his face with his hands, and Harry leaned over to wrap his arms around his shoulders. “Please don’t be upset,”

Louis hiccuped, speaking through broken breaths. “How can…you say that to me…I’m a horrible person, look…look at the way I treated you last night!”

Harry leaned his forehead on his shoulder. “I should have at least told you I would be gone. I didn’t mean to confuse you. I…just… I had a lot to deal with.”

He felt Louis’ lips in his hair, his voice a whisper. “How are you so calm about all of this?”

He grasped his hands again, huddling in closer to Louis. “We knew this was coming. Obviously nothing actually prepares you for this kind of thing, but Greg was good at keeping us in good spirits. He was never resentful. I’d like to think that some of his spirit rubbed off on me.”

“I’m pretty sure it did, Harry.”

He nodded, pulling away from Louis to look at him again. He reached out to cup his cheek, stroking his thumb along his tear stained skin. “I’m just glad I could make good on his last request. You make me really happy, Louis. It’s crazy, but I really don’t give a shit. I know exactly how short life can be.”

Louis looked shell shocked once again. “It _is_ crazy, but I feel the same way,” he suddenly looked sheepish. “Hence me acting like a giant fucking twat last night. God, Harry, I can’t say sorry enough. I feel sick about it.”

Harry leaned over, his lips brushing softly against Louis’ “Let’s stop apologizing now. Can I ask you for something?”

Louis brought their lips together, humming into his mouth. “Anything, Harry.”

Harry brought his hand around Louis’ neck, pulling him into a more urgent kiss. “Can we go have a nap? I’m really quite knackered.”

Louis broke off the kiss, pulling him up off the couch to lead him over to the stairs. He paused and turned around, giving him a hesitant smile. 

“I thought I was going to have to take up banjo lessons to play you my version of ‘Little Lion Man.’’ Harry looked at him questioningly. He made a strumming motion with his hand. “You know, ‘I really fucked it up this time. Didn’t I my dear,’” he sang out, shrugging a little.

Harry barked out a laugh, clutching his stomach. “See? This is why I need you,”

Louis’ eyebrows shot up. “My undiscovered banjo miming skills?”

“No, because you’re ridiculous and you make me smile. So, thank you. I needed that.”  

Louis nodded and turned back around, continuing up the stairs until they got to his room. He stood Harry in front of the bed, indicating for him to wait there until he closed all of the curtains, leaving just a hint of the afternoon sun lighting up the room with a warm glow.

Louis got up on the bed, walking on his knees to come up behind Harry, his fingers playing under the hem of his jumper. He pushed it up his back, pulling it over his head and throwing it in the corner. He kissed all along Harry’s back, wrapping his arms around him, bringing his lips up to his ear. “You’re so beautiful Harry. Inside and out.”

Harry closed his eyes, relaxing into Louis’ touch, each one feeling more heightened than the next. His breath hitched when he felt his fingers brush along his lower stomach, Louis’ nimble hands slowly working to unbutton his jeans, while sucking hot kisses into the side of his neck. He stepped off the bed, coming around to push Harry down onto it gently, working his jeans off all the way, his lips never detaching from any part of Harry’s body.

He was whispering along his skin, telling him how amazing he was, not letting Harry take any of the control. “Let me do this for you…you need it.”

...

And when he cried out Louis’ name a little later on, almost bruising his hips with the way his fingers were clenched into them, he swore he had never felt as close to another person before.

Once they caught their breath, and Louis spooned him in his arms – which really shouldn’t have worked, seeing as Harry was much taller than him. But it just did – he had never been more emotionally exhausted in his life. As soon as he closed his eyes, he fell into a deep slumber.

He woke up a few hours later, blinking around looking for the time. He noticed Louis standing in front of his closet, pulling on a pair of jeans. He turned around picking up a shirt off the ground, when he noticed that Harry had woken up. He came and sat down next to him on the bed, fingering his messy curls.

“I have to go to work, but stay here? I’ll see if I can sneak out a bit early,”

He didn’t think he could leave Louis’ bed if he wanted to. He was still so tired. He smiled, leaning into Louis’ touch. “Mmm, okay,”

“Harry, stop looking so adorable. I have bills to pay,”

He laughed, keeping his eyes closed, making grabby hands at Louis so that he would lean down for a kiss. He finally felt the press his lips on his and sighed. Louis nuzzled into his neck. “Yeah, this isn’t helping babe,” he hesitantly moved away. “I’ll see you in a few hours,” he whispered, along with one last head scratch.

He fell back asleep almost instantly, waking up to a tidal wave of kisses from Louis once again when he got home from the bar. He was giggling uncontrollably a couple minutes later. “What the hell, Lou,” he breathed out into between laughs.

He simply continued, moving on to Harry’s neck now. “People don’t kiss enough. I’m making it my new life goal to change that.”

“This sounds very good to me. Are we starting now?”

But he already knew the answer was yes.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a little epilogue to wrap things up. Short and fluffy and again, thank you for reading!!! xoxoxo

Almost a year had passed and nothing had really changed at all, yet everything had changed completely. Sure Louis still served the same drinks to the same sort of people every night, but instead of having too many drinks of his own after work and stumbling home with Nick; he gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek goodbye and crawled into bed next to Harry, who lived with him now. If Harry didn’t have to work the next day he would wait up for Louis and touch every inch of his skin like he was learning it all over again for the first time, his eyes following the invisible lines that his fingertips left behind, as if he was trying to tattoo the memory into his mind. Other times he would be fast asleep and Louis would climb in behind him, tucking his nose into the small of Harry’s neck to take in the familiar scent of the bakery, his flowery shampoo and something that was vaguely _Harry_. Call Louis a pathetic fool in love, but is it smelt like home. In fact, he felt so strongly about it that he had it permanently inked onto his body.

He wished that he could have captured the look on Harry’s face when he showed him the compass tattoo for the first time, which was a wonderful mix of shock, awe and misty eyed revelry. He knew the feeling as well, his own heart clenching inside from how much it meant to him. He of course joked it off in usual Louis fashion, poking at Harry’s ship “Can’t sail a ship without a compass now can you?” earning him an eye roll, followed up with a ‘god I love you so much’.

Later that night while Louis was attempting to cook for Harry, he curled himself around him, leaning his chin atop of Louis’ head.

“I love that you fit right under me, you’re like the perfect little puzzle piece,” he said, biting back a smile...because Harry knew how much Louis hated to have their height difference pointed out to him.

True to form, Louis grumbled and moaned. “Well, I don’t love it,”

Harry laughed, pressing his smiling lips to his ear, bringing his voice to a whisper. “Yes you do.”

He didn’t have to see his face to know that Louis’ lips had curled up into a smile as well. “Maybe.”

So…

Life with Harry was pretty good. There had been one or two – okay, maybe it was more like a couple of handfuls -  nights of emotional drinking as well, with Zayn and Louis crying into each other arms about how lucky they both were. Sometimes they would do this in their snuggies, which had now been upgraded from depression sunggies to we’re so fucking happy snuggies. Niall jumped at any opportunity to get involved in cuddles and watching bad tv no matter what the context, so he was all for it, and had now gotten them hooked on the Vampire Diaries. Which of course ended up in another arguement over what characters they would be after Zayn and Louis called dibs on Stefan and Damon “Looks like you’re stuck being Matt,” Louis chortled, causing Niall to once again pick up his dvd’s and storm out.

Louis was kind of glad _that_ would never change. But the big change he was thrilled about was when Liam finally got down on one knee and asked Zayn to marry him. Because Louis had only been planning for it since the day that they met. Zayn and Niall had cried, Nick had insisted on throwing them an engagement party, and Harry of course made them a ridiculous cake with a little fondant Liam in a cop uniform alongside a quiffed up Zayn, who was wearing the same thing as he was when Harry forced them into their first date. And of course this made Zayn cry… again. Louis shook his head at him in bewilderment – although secretly he was bursting from the seams with joy – wrapping an arm around his shoulders to pull him into a hug.

“Are you sure you aren’t pregnant? I don’t think I’ve seen anyone cry this much,”

Liam reached out for Zayn’s hand, bringing it to his lips. “I can’t wait to have a family with you,”

Louis groaned when Zayn crumpled against his chest, openly sobbing into his t shirt now. “Great, now he’s never going to stop.”

Though he did stop eventually, Louis was prepared for it again now that they were all in Italy for the week of wedding celebrations. Perfectly planned by Louis of course. He sat on the balcony of their hotel, head tipped back to take in the sun, a bottle of wine at his side. There may have been a bottle at his side permanently since they got there, because they were in Italy after all and Louis needed to respect the culture.

He suddenly felt a weight in his lap, and slowly opened his eyes to Harry’s grinning face.

He poked a finger in Harry's dimple. “Someone’s been indulging in too many of their own cupcakes,”

Harry’s smile immediately turned into a pout. “Heyyyy,”

Louis hugged his arms around him, pressing his lips to his cheek .“Aww, but you’re my giant cupcake, babe.”

This earned him a few giggles, and an exasperated sigh. Harry nodded at the wine bottle. “Not even bothering with a glass anymore?”

Louis picked up the bottle, wiggling it at him. “Why waste all that time pouring it into a glass, when I can pour it directly into my mouth? Honestly, Harry.” He took a sip, giving him a toothy smile after.

Harry leaned in to kiss his open mouth, licking the taste of wine off his own lips. “You’re a nut.”

He shrugged, taking another long pull. “Yeah, but you love me,”

“Yes, I really do.”

They sat in silence for a while, watching the sun go down over the rooftops, Harry’s fingers feathering across Louis’ compass tattoo. He noticed Harry looking at it; his fingers paused on the word ‘home’.

“Why did you get the home there, Lou?”

His eyes stayed on the sunset, hand idly scratching the back of Harry’s head. “So if you ever get lost, you know where to go,” He turned to face Harry, taking his hand and placing it over his heart. “This is home.”

Harry turned to hide his face into Louis’ neck, and he tightened his arms around him.

He was glad that he had found his way as well. 


End file.
